Sunday, October 6, 2013

Why, hello there blog. It's been a long-ass time. So, I've been living it up in Middleofnowhere, USA for six weeks now. And while this town has greatly exceeded my (admittedly low) expectations, I am starting to get a wee bit cabin-feverish. Here are some of the places I never wrote about! It's funny, looking back on old photos, it somehow blows my mind that all of that happened while breaking my heart that it's over. Ah, well, there will always be more adventures!

Where did I leave off? Oh right, summer 2012 - Indonesia. I'd never been anywhere so tragically impoverished as Jakarta. I wish you could have been there, could have seen it. It would humble you. The shanty towns butted up against train tracks; the child-beggers, thin as rails; the islands of rubbish floating down the canals. There are infinite towns like this on our big, blue-and-green marble, but Jakarta was the first time I had been surrounded by poverty that consumed and destroyed everything in its path. If I have the right to give anyone advice whatsoever, it would be to go, see it. It's everywhere. It's Marrakesh and Kathmandu and Hanoi. It's Central America and Central Asia. It's worse in Africa. And unless your heart is made out of soot, adamantine and Grinch frowns, it completely changes your perspective on every single aspect of your life.

Top of Borobudur

But Indonesia does have a lot of beautiful things to see. It's a massive country with lots of diverse populations. Jogjakarta is relatively easy to get to from Jakarta, so we went there.

Inside each of those honeycomb things,
there is a dude.

Prambanan

Dat sunset

And what's a trip to Indonesia without laying on the beach in Baliiiiiii.

And then Singapore. Oh Singapore, you are nothing short of a first world oasis surrounded by a desert of third world countries. Gotta admit, as worthwhile as it is to visit developing countries, it gets emotionally draining. I might not have made it through without a few days in this gem.

The hotel with that super famous infinity pool on top.
I am determined to stay here one day.

Skyline <3

Gardens by the Bay. Gorgeous!

Anyway, I don't have much to say, just feeling nostalgic. You know how it is, getting older and whatnot. Hopefully I'll get caught up with writing about some of these countries soon. I have like 12 more to share with y'all! TTFN!

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Yeah, I know it's been since like October, but I'll be honest, I don't even know where to start blogging this monster of a trip. After three months, eleven countries, thousands of dollars and countless buses/planes/trains (just kidding, I counted - it's 34, or about 185 hours of my life I'll never see again), it's hard to pick a jumping off point.

So, let's begin at the beginning and go until we come to the end.

For me, the beginning happened to be Kuala Lumpur. I had originally intended on only staying a night, then heading to Brunei, but sometimes the best laid plans manage to get barfed all over. What actually happened was I ended up fainting on the flight and felt so sick that I stayed an extra day in the city. The whole ordeal was really just foreshadowing the obscene amounts of bad luck I'd end up having throughout my holiday. But we'll get to that.

Since there's a metric butt load of tourist info about KL around the internet, I'll go ahead and keep this brief. (For you Americans, yes, a butt load is actually a unit of measurement in the metric system.) Obviously the first thing I did was go see Petronas Towers. Opted out of going to the top of them. I'd heard that it's a long wait, super expensive and the view isn't that awesome. This photo is from a park near the towers.

The monkeys actually stole thisstatue from a nearby temple.

Also went to Batu Caves, which is not only a really popular tourist stop, but also a training ground for aspiring thief monkeys.

Since I missed my flight to Bandar Seri Begawan, the closest I could get to Brunei on the cheap was Miri, in Malaysian Borneo. What a shithole that place is. Literally the only thing to do in Miri is get out. I managed to get to a national park a couple hours south to try to salvage the first week of my trip. Then almost get stranded out there and had to hitch a ride back into town.

Pictures in caves never turn out well. They really need better lighting.

Being 10ft away from an orang's pretty rad until you realize
how potentially gruesome the situation is.

The last interesting thing I did in Malaysia was near Kuching. Kuching is particularly popular with tourists for its proximity to one of the orangutan sanctuaries. Fun fact: overnight buses are never as comfortable or short as you think they're going to be.

Anyway, that's all I have for now. So expect another update around April. Kidding. Maybe.